The Oil-for-Fraud Scandal â “ the Canadian Connection
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Here's another one.
From NewsMax.Com â “ 10 Feb 05
The Oil-for-Food Scandal â “ the Canadian Connection
Charles R. Smith
Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005
"Its all about the oil" was the chant issued by a vast army of protesters around the world.
Yes, it may have been "all about the oil" â “ but it didn't involve Americans, who did not own any of the oil in Iraq, but rather a horde of rich global fat cats who wanted to make millions in a so-called U.N. humanitarian program.
One of those who made out like a bandit is a rich Canadian whose bank made millions and whose Paris-based holding companies include the originally French-Belgian oil company TotalFina Elf, which cut lucrative deals with Saddam's Iraq and is currently operating in war-torn Sudan.
Various congressional committees have launched hearings into what has been described as the biggest corruption scandal in history. Not surprisingly, U.N. officials have refused to cooperate with the congressional investigations.
The investigations have turned up a number of damning facts that point directly to the incompetence at best, complicity at worst of the most senior U.N. officials and those involved.
It is now well known, for example, that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's own son was getting big cash payments from a Swiss firm that profited from the program, in return for his "expert" opinions and advice. Recently published evidence shows that Annan's son was paraded as a high-level contact within the U.N.
The congressional investigations have surfaced preliminary accounting figures that show that Saddam Hussein likely siphoned off as much as $15 billion, almost a quarter of the entire funds transferred.
While the anti-U.S. critics wailed at the impact of the embargo on the Iraqi people, their attention miraculously centered on the nation that liberated the victims of Saddam's original aggressions â “ and not on the Thug in Chief or his numerous continental 'partners'.
Free to "govern," Saddam did so with a vengeance, and the rest, as they say, is history â “ which, thankfully, Congress is now exposing after the U.S. military put an "Out of Business" sign on Baghdad.
Hussein was not alone in his corruption, and several others involved in the money flow, including government firms and politicians in Europe, are now nervously following the investigations while checking out one-way flights to Paraguay.
BNP Paribas
Top among these is the European-based BNP Paribas bank, which the U.N. chose to administer the program and which reportedly received nearly $1 billion for its efforts. Congressional investigators reviewing the bank's actions have discovered broken rules, missing documents and improper transfers by BNP Paribas, which up until now has been assumed to be a French bank.
In fact, BNP Paribas is actually controlled by Power Corporation, an appropriately named Canadian company that has a shocking track record of 'business' relationships with the worst gangsters and tyrannical regimes in the world.
BNP Paribas also has one other distinguishing feature: a direct corporate and familial relationship with the persons running the government of Canada for the last 20 years.
The truth about BNP Paribas and Power Corp. sheds a new light on Canada's seemingly bizarre anti-American foreign policy in the Middle East, in China and elsewhere.
BNP Paribas bank is part of a holding company, Pargesa Holding, which is jointly owned and controlled by the Frère and Desmarais families. Paul Desmarais Sr. is the chairman of the group, while Albert Frère is the vice-chairman. Gerald Frère, Albert's son, is one of three general managers who oversee day-to-day operations, and Paul Desmarais Jr. is also an officer.
Pargesa, and thus Power Corporation and the Canadian Desmarais family, holds a controlling significant stake in TotalFina Elf, the Belgian-French petroleum multinational corporation formed from the merger of Total and Petrofina.
BNP Paribas and TotalFina may have blood-stained corporate histories, but the intimate and intricate connections of Power Corp. to Canada's governing elite raise the truly disturbing questions.
Power Corporation CEO Andre Desmarais is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who went out of his way to oppose U.S. intervention in Iraq, where the family's business interests with the Saddam regime would be jeopardized.
Current Canadian PM Paul Martin is a former Power Corporation employee who made his fortune when he bought Canada Steamship Lines from Power Corp. aided by loans from Power Corp. To this day both CSL and Power are reported to have mutual equity interests in each other.
The most senior foreign affairs/international trade adviser to current Canadian PM Paul Martin is Maurice Strong, former CEO of Power Corp. and a longtime U.N. and Kofi Annan adviser.
TotalFina Elf
So, who is TotalFina Elf? Just an oil company that cut a deal with Saddam to develop and exploit the Majnoon and Nahr Umar oil fields in southern Iraq. These properties are estimated to contain as much as 25 percent of the country's oil reserves.
With Saddam under arrest, the Canadian-controlled company has expanded its "client base" and now has a deal with the murderous Sudanese regime to quietly extract its oil and funnel profits back to Khartoum for its infamous social programs.
Disgusted by the lethargic pace and willful blindness of the U.N.-led investigation of itself headed up by Paul Volcker, the U.S. Congress opened its own investigation. Committee investigators found that eight government agencies notified BNP Paribas about "deficiencies" in handling money in the U.N. program.
No wonder Congress smelled a rat when it watched the deliberately ineffectual U.N. 'review' of the 'Food-for-Oil' program. Thankfully, it followed up on that and launched its own investigations which, if allowed to follow their natural course, will inevitably expose fraud, corruption, sleaze, theft, incompetence and, perhaps in the long run most significantly, the corrupt political and personal motivations of supposedly friendly governments, including Canada, in this entire mess.
For our Canadian friends and supposed partners, we are left with the disturbing question: Who's really in charge and whose interests are they really serving?
Wonder if we can get the journalists that lurk here to pick it up for the Canadian press :
From NewsMax.Com â “ 10 Feb 05
The Oil-for-Food Scandal â “ the Canadian Connection
Charles R. Smith
Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005
"Its all about the oil" was the chant issued by a vast army of protesters around the world.
Yes, it may have been "all about the oil" â “ but it didn't involve Americans, who did not own any of the oil in Iraq, but rather a horde of rich global fat cats who wanted to make millions in a so-called U.N. humanitarian program.
One of those who made out like a bandit is a rich Canadian whose bank made millions and whose Paris-based holding companies include the originally French-Belgian oil company TotalFina Elf, which cut lucrative deals with Saddam's Iraq and is currently operating in war-torn Sudan.
Various congressional committees have launched hearings into what has been described as the biggest corruption scandal in history. Not surprisingly, U.N. officials have refused to cooperate with the congressional investigations.
The investigations have turned up a number of damning facts that point directly to the incompetence at best, complicity at worst of the most senior U.N. officials and those involved.
It is now well known, for example, that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's own son was getting big cash payments from a Swiss firm that profited from the program, in return for his "expert" opinions and advice. Recently published evidence shows that Annan's son was paraded as a high-level contact within the U.N.
The congressional investigations have surfaced preliminary accounting figures that show that Saddam Hussein likely siphoned off as much as $15 billion, almost a quarter of the entire funds transferred.
While the anti-U.S. critics wailed at the impact of the embargo on the Iraqi people, their attention miraculously centered on the nation that liberated the victims of Saddam's original aggressions â “ and not on the Thug in Chief or his numerous continental 'partners'.
Free to "govern," Saddam did so with a vengeance, and the rest, as they say, is history â “ which, thankfully, Congress is now exposing after the U.S. military put an "Out of Business" sign on Baghdad.
Hussein was not alone in his corruption, and several others involved in the money flow, including government firms and politicians in Europe, are now nervously following the investigations while checking out one-way flights to Paraguay.
BNP Paribas
Top among these is the European-based BNP Paribas bank, which the U.N. chose to administer the program and which reportedly received nearly $1 billion for its efforts. Congressional investigators reviewing the bank's actions have discovered broken rules, missing documents and improper transfers by BNP Paribas, which up until now has been assumed to be a French bank.
In fact, BNP Paribas is actually controlled by Power Corporation, an appropriately named Canadian company that has a shocking track record of 'business' relationships with the worst gangsters and tyrannical regimes in the world.
BNP Paribas also has one other distinguishing feature: a direct corporate and familial relationship with the persons running the government of Canada for the last 20 years.
The truth about BNP Paribas and Power Corp. sheds a new light on Canada's seemingly bizarre anti-American foreign policy in the Middle East, in China and elsewhere.
BNP Paribas bank is part of a holding company, Pargesa Holding, which is jointly owned and controlled by the Frère and Desmarais families. Paul Desmarais Sr. is the chairman of the group, while Albert Frère is the vice-chairman. Gerald Frère, Albert's son, is one of three general managers who oversee day-to-day operations, and Paul Desmarais Jr. is also an officer.
Pargesa, and thus Power Corporation and the Canadian Desmarais family, holds a controlling significant stake in TotalFina Elf, the Belgian-French petroleum multinational corporation formed from the merger of Total and Petrofina.
BNP Paribas and TotalFina may have blood-stained corporate histories, but the intimate and intricate connections of Power Corp. to Canada's governing elite raise the truly disturbing questions.
Power Corporation CEO Andre Desmarais is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who went out of his way to oppose U.S. intervention in Iraq, where the family's business interests with the Saddam regime would be jeopardized.
Current Canadian PM Paul Martin is a former Power Corporation employee who made his fortune when he bought Canada Steamship Lines from Power Corp. aided by loans from Power Corp. To this day both CSL and Power are reported to have mutual equity interests in each other.
The most senior foreign affairs/international trade adviser to current Canadian PM Paul Martin is Maurice Strong, former CEO of Power Corp. and a longtime U.N. and Kofi Annan adviser.
TotalFina Elf
So, who is TotalFina Elf? Just an oil company that cut a deal with Saddam to develop and exploit the Majnoon and Nahr Umar oil fields in southern Iraq. These properties are estimated to contain as much as 25 percent of the country's oil reserves.
With Saddam under arrest, the Canadian-controlled company has expanded its "client base" and now has a deal with the murderous Sudanese regime to quietly extract its oil and funnel profits back to Khartoum for its infamous social programs.
Disgusted by the lethargic pace and willful blindness of the U.N.-led investigation of itself headed up by Paul Volcker, the U.S. Congress opened its own investigation. Committee investigators found that eight government agencies notified BNP Paribas about "deficiencies" in handling money in the U.N. program.
No wonder Congress smelled a rat when it watched the deliberately ineffectual U.N. 'review' of the 'Food-for-Oil' program. Thankfully, it followed up on that and launched its own investigations which, if allowed to follow their natural course, will inevitably expose fraud, corruption, sleaze, theft, incompetence and, perhaps in the long run most significantly, the corrupt political and personal motivations of supposedly friendly governments, including Canada, in this entire mess.
For our Canadian friends and supposed partners, we are left with the disturbing question: Who's really in charge and whose interests are they really serving?
Wonder if we can get the journalists that lurk here to pick it up for the Canadian press :
- Reaction score
- 4,846
- Points
- 1,060
If anyone doubts the stories, just Goggle - Paul Desmarais Sr. -. The facts are out there, you just have to find the time to read all the back room deals made by the highest politicians and businessmen in the last 20 years of Canadian history.
And we wonder why Bombardier (owned by Power Corp) got all the sweetheart deals or why the Chinese are buying up all our natural resources, with the sanction of the government, or why we were so adamant about not going to war with Saddam :
And we wonder why Bombardier (owned by Power Corp) got all the sweetheart deals or why the Chinese are buying up all our natural resources, with the sanction of the government, or why we were so adamant about not going to war with Saddam :
- Reaction score
- 4,846
- Points
- 1,060
I've always seen the CBC as a totally biased news org, with the way they fall all over themselves to avoid taking these guys to task. Now it makes even more sense.
I also saw a story a while back about how the young Trudeau used his mother's money to buy as many low cost shares in PetroFina as possible. The shares were in the toilet at the time. Shortly after his purchase, it became Petro Canada, the shares skyrocketed and his mother became a millionaire. Of course Pierre, being the only son, inhereted it all shortly after this when she died.
I also saw a story a while back about how the young Trudeau used his mother's money to buy as many low cost shares in PetroFina as possible. The shares were in the toilet at the time. Shortly after his purchase, it became Petro Canada, the shares skyrocketed and his mother became a millionaire. Of course Pierre, being the only son, inhereted it all shortly after this when she died.
- Reaction score
- 889
- Points
- 1,060
While I usually have some trouble with circumstantially speculating about the financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest that may be attached to certain public figures without a very strong foundation for so doing, I must admit this one is worth further research.
Rant on:
At a minimum, these stories provide more impetus for the imposition of three public accountability measures upon crown corporations*:
1. Subjecting all Crown corporations to the Access to Information Act.
2. Imposing regular full and public financial disclosure of the personal holdings of upon the officers, directors and senior managers of Crown corporations and their immediate family members.
3. A public list showing declarations of conflict of interests between individuals as well as financial issues. The list should apply to all politicians of any stripe or level of government, officers, directors and senior managers of crown corporations.
The events of the last few years clearly demonstrate that the public interest is not well served by the notion of full faith and trust that is supposed to exist between the government as a fiduciary and the public as beneficiary of tax expenditures. For too long, the leadership of crown corporations have enjoyed the privilege of the corporate veil to shield themselves from liability for their outrageous dealings with their political masters.
Does this mean that elected or appointed public figures would be subject to more rigorous and invasive measures than their private sector counterparts. The answer is yes, but the measure is justified given the too often abuse of process and privilege that subsists in our political system and method of government. And, unlike public officials, directors., officers and managers can be removed by shareholder revolt. Unless our government would like a similar precedence to take place, it's time to start getting serious about these issues.
Rant off.
*from hospitals and research foundations to corporations such as the CBC, and perhaps every publicly owned or managed company that operates under parliamentary or legislative letters patent.
Rant on:
At a minimum, these stories provide more impetus for the imposition of three public accountability measures upon crown corporations*:
1. Subjecting all Crown corporations to the Access to Information Act.
2. Imposing regular full and public financial disclosure of the personal holdings of upon the officers, directors and senior managers of Crown corporations and their immediate family members.
3. A public list showing declarations of conflict of interests between individuals as well as financial issues. The list should apply to all politicians of any stripe or level of government, officers, directors and senior managers of crown corporations.
The events of the last few years clearly demonstrate that the public interest is not well served by the notion of full faith and trust that is supposed to exist between the government as a fiduciary and the public as beneficiary of tax expenditures. For too long, the leadership of crown corporations have enjoyed the privilege of the corporate veil to shield themselves from liability for their outrageous dealings with their political masters.
Does this mean that elected or appointed public figures would be subject to more rigorous and invasive measures than their private sector counterparts. The answer is yes, but the measure is justified given the too often abuse of process and privilege that subsists in our political system and method of government. And, unlike public officials, directors., officers and managers can be removed by shareholder revolt. Unless our government would like a similar precedence to take place, it's time to start getting serious about these issues.
Rant off.
*from hospitals and research foundations to corporations such as the CBC, and perhaps every publicly owned or managed company that operates under parliamentary or legislative letters patent.
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 210
Andyboy said:
Nepotism and double-dealing in the Canadian government?! *GASP!* If we had any doubts that there's corruption in the government, I would have thought the sponsorship scandal would have removed them. I'm not a huge fan of the Liberals, so I can't say I'm disillusioned by the article. I'm not sure what, exactly, you were expecting me to say...
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
More CanCon (this time as part of the coverup): http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149099,00.html
Annan's #2 Blocks Oil-for-Food Scrutiny
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
By George Russell and Claudia Rosett
UNITED NATIONS â †With U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan next up for review by Paul Volcker's inquiry into the Oil-for-Food scandal, a crucial question is whether Volcker will expand upon information tying the scandal directly to the U.N. chief's office â †by way of Annan's second-in command, Louise Frechette.
Four years into the seven-year Oil-for-Food program, with graft and mismanagement by then rampant, Frechette intervened directly by telephone to stop United Nations auditors from forwarding their investigations to the U.N. Security Council. This detail was buried on page 186 of the 219-page interim report Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee released Feb. 3.
...
Frechette, 58, came to the United Nations following a long career as a Canadian civil servant. The first Deputy Secretary-General in U.N. history, she has served since 1998 as Annan's chief administrator. She also chairs the steering committee on U.N. Reform and Management Policy.
Frechette's actions stand in sharp contrast to the assertions of Annan and his public relations staff that the Security Council â “ and not the Secretariat â “ supervised the more than $110 billion Oil-for-Food program. Her decision, as documented by Volcker, also places responsibility squarely in the secretary-general's office for obscuring mismanagement of the program from the Security Council.
...
When questioned about the telephone call at a recent press conference, Frechette said she had no recollection of it. â Å“But I'm quite prepared to accept Mr. Nair's recalling the conversation,â ? she told reporters.
...
Frechette had connections to a number of Oil-for-Food figures. She had direct oversight of both U.N. watchdog Nair and Oil-for-Food director Sevan, although both reported to the Secretary-General. She also has an interesting tie to an important member of the Volcker committee's 65-member staff. When Frechette served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 1992 to 1995, her boss during most of that time was Canadian Deputy Minister Reid Morden (search), who is now executive director of the Volcker team.
Asked why Frechette was mentioned only by title, not by name, Morden refused to comment.
... the exchange of notes with Nair's office suggests a sharp difference of opinion on oversight of Oil-for-Food, with the U.N. watchdogs willing to take the case all the way to the Security Council â †until they were stopped by Frechette. The exact nature of the differences has been blurred by the Volcker committee's own presentation of the memoranda involved. But the sequence is as follows:
On Aug. 30, 2000, just over halfway through the Oil-for-Food program, Nair proposed to Frechette that full-scale audits of the program should be conducted. Nair's note expressed concern on the part of the auditors that Oil-for-Food was a â Å“high-risk activityâ ? needing thorough examination on a high-priority basis. Later, Nair's auditors decided that an evaluation of Oil-for-Food's program management division was the place to start.
In the same Aug. 30 document to Frechette, Nair also urged that his auditors report directly to the Security Council on anything related to Oil-for-Food. This would, he said, â Å“ensure adequate coverage and visibility of OIOS' audit activities.â ?
The Volcker committee does not disclose any immediate reply from Frechette's office. But a few weeks later, Sevan weighed in, rejecting the idea of full-scale auditing on the grounds that it was not worth spending the money on a program with an uncertain future. Volcker committee members have since highlighted Sevan's reply as evidence that he may have been trying to steer investigators away from further audits of his program.
Sevan, however, did not have the final say. That authority lay with Kofi Annan. And as Frechette recently confirmed at a U.N. press conference, Sevan reported to the secretary-general â Å“through me.â ?
So, after a brief pause, Nair's audit department again raised the issue. In a Nov. 30, 2000, memo, the chief auditor for Oil-for-Food, Esther Stern, told Sevan that despite his objections the audit department intended to send reports to the Security Council starting Jan. 1, 2001.
That never happened. As Nair told it to the Volcker committee, Frechette herself intervened with a telephone call to him â Å“denying this proposal.â ?
According to the Volcker committee's terse summary of the exchange, â Å“Mr. Nair then abandoned the effort to report directly to the Security Council on [Oil-for-Food]-related matters.â ?
... Frechette declared that if her phone call quashing the audit department's initiative did take place â †which she said she could not recall â †the reason was that â Å“internal audits were considered a management tool that were to be used only by internal managers of the United Nations system.â ?
That was exactly what Nair was proposing to change.
As it happens, the United Nations now agrees with Nair. Last December, with Congress pressing for access to the U.N. Oil-for-Food internal audits, the Volcker committee finally agreed the records should be made public. The U.N. changed its rules to comply.
Among those audits, finally released this past January, was one similar in focus to what Nair had proposed back in 2000. It was finally carried out from February to May 2003 â †as Saddam Hussein was being overthrown.
Among other things, that audit found that Sevan had failed to hold any management meetings of his Oil-for-Food team for the previous two years. It remains to be explained how that fact had escaped the attention of Sevan's direct supervisor, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, or that of Kofi Annan himself.
P.S.> For those who might remember me, "Hi, I'm back!" ;D
Annan's #2 Blocks Oil-for-Food Scrutiny
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
By George Russell and Claudia Rosett
UNITED NATIONS â †With U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan next up for review by Paul Volcker's inquiry into the Oil-for-Food scandal, a crucial question is whether Volcker will expand upon information tying the scandal directly to the U.N. chief's office â †by way of Annan's second-in command, Louise Frechette.
Four years into the seven-year Oil-for-Food program, with graft and mismanagement by then rampant, Frechette intervened directly by telephone to stop United Nations auditors from forwarding their investigations to the U.N. Security Council. This detail was buried on page 186 of the 219-page interim report Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee released Feb. 3.
...
Frechette, 58, came to the United Nations following a long career as a Canadian civil servant. The first Deputy Secretary-General in U.N. history, she has served since 1998 as Annan's chief administrator. She also chairs the steering committee on U.N. Reform and Management Policy.
Frechette's actions stand in sharp contrast to the assertions of Annan and his public relations staff that the Security Council â “ and not the Secretariat â “ supervised the more than $110 billion Oil-for-Food program. Her decision, as documented by Volcker, also places responsibility squarely in the secretary-general's office for obscuring mismanagement of the program from the Security Council.
...
When questioned about the telephone call at a recent press conference, Frechette said she had no recollection of it. â Å“But I'm quite prepared to accept Mr. Nair's recalling the conversation,â ? she told reporters.
...
Frechette had connections to a number of Oil-for-Food figures. She had direct oversight of both U.N. watchdog Nair and Oil-for-Food director Sevan, although both reported to the Secretary-General. She also has an interesting tie to an important member of the Volcker committee's 65-member staff. When Frechette served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 1992 to 1995, her boss during most of that time was Canadian Deputy Minister Reid Morden (search), who is now executive director of the Volcker team.
Asked why Frechette was mentioned only by title, not by name, Morden refused to comment.
... the exchange of notes with Nair's office suggests a sharp difference of opinion on oversight of Oil-for-Food, with the U.N. watchdogs willing to take the case all the way to the Security Council â †until they were stopped by Frechette. The exact nature of the differences has been blurred by the Volcker committee's own presentation of the memoranda involved. But the sequence is as follows:
On Aug. 30, 2000, just over halfway through the Oil-for-Food program, Nair proposed to Frechette that full-scale audits of the program should be conducted. Nair's note expressed concern on the part of the auditors that Oil-for-Food was a â Å“high-risk activityâ ? needing thorough examination on a high-priority basis. Later, Nair's auditors decided that an evaluation of Oil-for-Food's program management division was the place to start.
In the same Aug. 30 document to Frechette, Nair also urged that his auditors report directly to the Security Council on anything related to Oil-for-Food. This would, he said, â Å“ensure adequate coverage and visibility of OIOS' audit activities.â ?
The Volcker committee does not disclose any immediate reply from Frechette's office. But a few weeks later, Sevan weighed in, rejecting the idea of full-scale auditing on the grounds that it was not worth spending the money on a program with an uncertain future. Volcker committee members have since highlighted Sevan's reply as evidence that he may have been trying to steer investigators away from further audits of his program.
Sevan, however, did not have the final say. That authority lay with Kofi Annan. And as Frechette recently confirmed at a U.N. press conference, Sevan reported to the secretary-general â Å“through me.â ?
So, after a brief pause, Nair's audit department again raised the issue. In a Nov. 30, 2000, memo, the chief auditor for Oil-for-Food, Esther Stern, told Sevan that despite his objections the audit department intended to send reports to the Security Council starting Jan. 1, 2001.
That never happened. As Nair told it to the Volcker committee, Frechette herself intervened with a telephone call to him â Å“denying this proposal.â ?
According to the Volcker committee's terse summary of the exchange, â Å“Mr. Nair then abandoned the effort to report directly to the Security Council on [Oil-for-Food]-related matters.â ?
... Frechette declared that if her phone call quashing the audit department's initiative did take place â †which she said she could not recall â †the reason was that â Å“internal audits were considered a management tool that were to be used only by internal managers of the United Nations system.â ?
That was exactly what Nair was proposing to change.
As it happens, the United Nations now agrees with Nair. Last December, with Congress pressing for access to the U.N. Oil-for-Food internal audits, the Volcker committee finally agreed the records should be made public. The U.N. changed its rules to comply.
Among those audits, finally released this past January, was one similar in focus to what Nair had proposed back in 2000. It was finally carried out from February to May 2003 â †as Saddam Hussein was being overthrown.
Among other things, that audit found that Sevan had failed to hold any management meetings of his Oil-for-Food team for the previous two years. It remains to be explained how that fact had escaped the attention of Sevan's direct supervisor, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, or that of Kofi Annan himself.
P.S.> For those who might remember me, "Hi, I'm back!" ;D
- Reaction score
- 7,346
- Points
- 1,160
Reid Morden, ex Director of CSIS, Frechette's previous boss, comes out of retirement to act as Executive Director into an Inquiry in which Frechette may be a linchpin. Curious.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover011905.htm
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2004/cover121504.htm
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover011905.htm
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2004/cover121504.htm
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
Infanteer said:
Kind of appropriate, given the subject matter ...
Anyway, here's a serious attempt at org charting Power Corp's involvement (BNP Paribas was the bank that was handpicked by Benon Sevan to broker the whole Oil-for-
<img src="http://www.torontofreepress.com/images/cover0305p3.gif" />
- Reaction score
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- Points
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Thanks for demonstrating the point Kirkhill. No-where on that diagramme does it indicate any PM or former PM was employed by the company. It's simply a link diagramme - X knows Y who knows Z who has shares in company A etc.
Mis-use of such tools is dangerous, and can cause some people grief they do not deserve.
Acorn
Mis-use of such tools is dangerous, and can cause some people grief they do not deserve.
Acorn
- Reaction score
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- Points
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The diagram might lead to some "guilt by association" conclusions, but this ain't 3rd-cousin's-ex-roommate's-redheaded-stepchild kind of stuff: Power Corp. had the controlling interest in BNP Parabus (and, although not on this chart, what was then TotalFinalElf) & Desmarias controls Power Corp. ... the fact that a former President of Power Corp. (Maurice Strong) had a direct relationship with the guy that is ultimately responsible for the program and whose office tried to kill the audit (Kofi Anan) is just an amusing side-note. It also interesting, although by no means evidence of guilt, to note that Desmarais son is married to Jean Chretien's daughter ...
Steyn has written about these relationships a few times ... I'll try to dig-up some articles later today.
Cheers.
Steyn has written about these relationships a few times ... I'll try to dig-up some articles later today.
Cheers.
- Reaction score
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Acorn said:
Don't worry, he is about to be asked.
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